Turnovers plague Eagles in loss to Cincinnati

Cincinnati's Wallace Gilberry struts into the end zone for a touchdown after recovering a fumble by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second half Thursday night.

PHILADELPHIA - Following a one-game flirtation with competence, the Philadelphia Eagles got back to doing what they do best Thursday night.

That is, they couldn't get out of their own way in another embarrassing defeat, this one a 34-13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Lincoln Financial Field.

Making this one even more disgraceful was that the Eagles (4-10) were ahead late in the third quarter before the wheels came off in a dumbfounding series of turnovers that led to 24 Cincinnati points in 31/2 minutes.

Leading by three and in position to extend the advantage and win their second in a row after losing eight straight games, the bumbling Birds instead turned the ball over four times in the next six minutes to match their season high with five giveaways.

Their ninth loss in 10 games since a 3-1 started assured the Eagles of their worst record in at least seven seasons, since the 2005 team went 6-10 a year after making it to the Super Bowl.

Philadelphia was in great position after overcoming a pair of mistakes that led to an early 10-point deficit to take the lead, with the defense holding Cincinnati without a point on seven straight series.

But the Eagles turned the ball over three times in the final five minutes of the third quarter, including fumbles on back-to-back snaps in the final minute of the period, then gave it away on a kickoff return.

A Nick Foles interception and Bryce Brown fumble both led to third-quarter touchdowns, the latter on a 25-yard return by defensive end Wallace Gilberry, and a Clay Harbor fumble on a completed pass set up the Bengals (8-6) for a field goal that made it 27-13 in the first minute of the fourth quarter.

Cedric Thornton fumbled the ensuing kickoff to set up yet another touchdown, completing a 27-point turnaround in 3:23.

Down 10 points after their first two series, the Eagles battled back to take a 13-10 lead at halftime, twice using a sack and forced fumble to set up points.

But both of those scores were field goals, the Birds failing to get into the end zone despite having first-and-goal at the 3 and then the 1. They settled for 22- and 20-yard Alex Henery field goals to lead by three instead of a possible 11 points.

The field goals were set up by sacks and forced fumbles by Brandon Graham and Cullen Jenkins. That was part of a four-sack first half - Graham had two of them for the Eagles' most sacks in a game this season.

The Birds scored their first touchdown on an 11-yard pass from Foles to Riley Cooper. That was set up by a 46-yard pass from Foles to Jeremy Maclin, who handed the Bengals their opening TD when he fumbled the ball away on the second play of the night.

Cincinanti recovered Maclin's fumble at the 44-yard line. BenJarvus Green-Ellis went 29 yards around right end on the next play and scored on a 1-yard run up the middle five plays later.

The Eagles went three-and-out before Cincinnati's Daniel Herron pushed Marvin McNutt into punter Mat McBriar, whose kick hit McNutt and was recovered at the 11-yard line. A Graham sack helped keep the Bengals out of the end zone, but Josh Brown's 29-yard field goal made it 10-0.